Guidelines in Response to Degrees of Anti-social Behaviour: Airline Passengers and Children as a Case Study
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 2 May 2011
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service
Introduction
In an increasingly crowded world it is to be expected that stresses will be ever more frequently associated with the use of facilities. The following argument focuses on forms of behaviour on airlines — variously labelled as unpleasant, anti-social, unacceptable, obnoxious, disruptive, unruly, air rage, etc. Examples range through crying babies, shouting, abuse, disorderly drunkenness, indecency, harassment, violence, to extreme threats framed as terrorism. For those exposed to such experiences, whilst possibly tolerable on short-haul flights, these become increasingly unacceptable on long-haul flights of 6 to 12 hours, especially when the behaviour is persistent.
The airline case is convenient because it offers a common experience, with which many are familiar. It is a closed environment in which behaviour is variously constrained by airline security regulations, commercial courtesies, and conventional sociability. However, given the experiences described below in the light of web resources, it is clear that the various participants in this environment are confronted by problematic options — possibly of a controversial nature. Opinions are divided on the appropriate responses to different degrees of disruption.
The purpose here is to distinguish on a simple scale the degrees of “anti-social behaviour” and the possibilities of response of others in the environment. It includes options open to the “authorities” responsible for the environment. Such a scale is suggestive of ways of responding to anti-social behaviour in other contexts — possibly of far greater relevance. Obvious concerns include anti-social behaviour in local neighbourhoods and demonstrations of various kinds.
The argument has implications for those obliged to spend time in closed environments where they are exposed to various levels of disruptive behaviour, including bullying and harassment: prisons, military, schools, work environments, etc. Especially relevant is the disempowerment experienced by those exposed to such behaviour and the rights assumed by those engaging in it — and the complicity of those aware of such behaviour.
As a microcosm, the cabin environment therefore constitutes a valuable model of wider social conditions in which disruption is variously experienced and only partially contained by the “authorities” in place — the “forces of law and order”. In the light of references made to the resource and management constraints of “Spaceship Earth“, the restricted space of an airline cabin — with passengers in a ranked and orderly array — highlights the potential psychosocial challenges typically neglected in reflections on those constraints on an “overcrowded planet”.
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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 2 May 2011.
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